Congress candidate Abhijeet Wanjari was leading the BJP candidate Sudhakar Kohale by 927 votes at the end of the first round of counting in the Nagpur Division Graduates’ Constituency election. The lead was at completion of first preference vote. Counting for the second round of first preference 81,909 votes began whose final tally is likely to be ready by Wednesday afternoon. According to the official figures, Wanjari secured 28,998 votes, while Kohale received 28,071 votes. Independent candidate Nitesh Karale, popularly known as Karale Guruji, secured 14,708 votes. The official first-round figures showed a close contest between Wanjari and Kohale, with Karale in third position. The invalid vote count reached at 7,128.

 

On Tuesday, the counting got underway at Mankapur Indoor Stadium, where ballot papers were being counted under the preferential voting system at 84 tables. The contest remains a close race between Wanjari and Kohale as the counting progressed to the subsequent rounds throughout the night. The counting process began at 8 am with the mixing of ballot papers, which was completed around 2 pm. Subsequently, the counting of postal ballots was taken up, followed by counting of first-preference votes in the first round. Of the 238 postal ballots received, 34 were declared invalid, while the remaining 204 were found valid and taken up for counting. The first round of counting continued for nearly eight hours, while the counting of the second round, comprising 81,909 votes, was underway at the time of filing this report. A total of 1,65,705 ballot papers received from 445 polling stations were taken up for counting.

 

The key contestants in the election includes Maha Vikas Aghadi candidate Abhijeet Wanjari, BJP’s nominee Sudhakar Kohale and rebel candidate Nitesh Karale, popularly known as Karale Guruji. Wanjari was seeking second term, while Kohale contested as the BJP-led Mahayuti candidate. Karale, who had been expelled by the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) for six years, was also in the fray. Despite completion of the initial stages of counting, the process of tallying votes across subsequent rounds was taking considerable time owing to preferential voting system. 

 

 

Though Karale’s vote tally became a subject of intense political discussion, the unusually prolonged counting process also raised questions. Polling had been held on October 23, while counting began at 8 am on Tuesday, October 27, at Mankapur Indoor Stadium. The initial process of mixing ballot papers continued until around 2 pm, followed by the counting of postal ballots and first-preference votes. The preferential voting system, involving the sorting and counting of a large number of ballot papers, made the process time-consuming. 

 

 

 Independent candidate Nitesh Karale emerged as a major talking point in the Nagpur Division Graduates’ Constituency election, with the number of votes secured by him surprising political observers and triggering discussions across the city. The high-profile contest between Congress candidate Abhijeet Wanjari and BJP’s nominee Sudhakar Kohale attracted attention, but Karale’s vote share added an unexpected dimension to the electoral battle. His vote tally prompted questions about the extent of his support among graduates and the factors that worked in his favour despite his independent status. Karale’s campaigning style and focus on issues concerning educated youth, unemployment, education and difficulties faced by graduates had attracted attention. His suspension from the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) shortly before polling also kept him in the news and may have helped sustain public interest in his candidature.